Travel Diaries: Key West

A weekend or two ago, I went on a road trip to Key West. This wasn’t my first trip to the keys. The others were all day trips and every single time we had got down to Key West it was pouring. One day it poured so much that cars were floating around. This time, I was hoping that it would be much better than previous trips.

Back in September, hurricane Irma swept through the Caribbean and the state of Florida up from the keys all the way up to the gulf coast cities and mashed up some areas along it’s journey. Islands like Antigua were left completely devastated and uninhabitable. While Key West, the southern most point of the continental US was up and running, there were other islands along the way that had seen much better times. The only route down to Key West was intermittently littered with debris from Irma’s destruction – old fridges, sofas, and rubble. Along the way, we saw one house that looked like the foundation had washed out completely, trees on top of cars, and loads of other structures with the siding or windows completely missing. It was heart breaking.

Down in Key West, we did a lot of walking and eating – thankfully, we had the chance to walk off all of the calories we were gorging on. There are so many delicious restaurants that it was tough choosing which ones to eat at in just a few days. As an architectural and interior designer, I was super excited to stroll the streets and see all of the super colorful, island-esque houses, the white wooden fences carved with fretwork, and bougainvillea a plenty.

There is so much to see and do. We ventured up the dozens of steps to the top of the Key West lighthouse and had a good vantage point of the island. We paid a visit to Ernest Hemmingway’s house that is now home to an insane number of cats. We even rented a golf cart and motored from one end of the island to the other – which we had walked the previous day. And of course, we caught quite a few sunsets and downed a good amount of alcohol.

All in all, I would definitely recommend that you visit the keys. I hope this post lets you know that they are up and running and you need not worry about the lack of things to do, amenities, or accommodations. And even more so, for an area whose economy was heavily based on tourism, they definitely need you to go spend your money!